How Swap Quotes Work: Price Impact, Slippage, and Quoting Explained

A swap price is not a single universal number — it comes from the liquidity pools or solvers behind your order. On an AMM like Uniswap, the rate is determined by the pool's reserves: larger reserves mean a more stable, closer-to-market price.

With intent-based or solver-based routing, a solver quotes a rate it is willing to fill at, and competes with other solvers to offer you the best outcome.

AEXI aggregates both. It queries many pools and solvers, then presents the single best route for your trade so you see one clear expected output.

Price impact is the effect your own trade has on the price. Withdraw a large amount from a pool relative to its depth and the price moves against you — you get a worse rate than the spot price.

It is not a fee or a hidden charge. It is simply the natural consequence of a thin pool: the bigger the order relative to liquidity, the higher the price impact.

This is why deep, liquid routes usually win. Splitting an order across several pools (which AEXI can do) reduces per-pool impact and yields a better total output.

Price impact is mechanical and predictable from the pool depth. Slippage is the difference between your expected execution price and the actual one — and it can move between quoting and confirmation.

Between the moment a quote is built and the moment your transaction is mined, the market can shift. Other trades may move the pool, or the chain may be congested, changing the rate you actually get.

The slippage limit you set is a safety bound: if the market moves more than you allow, the swap fails rather than executing at a price you did not agree to. See the slippage guide for how to tune it in the AEXI form.

When you enter a trade, AEXI evaluates candidate routes — direct AMM swaps, bridges, solver quotes, and splits — then picks the combination expected to give the best net output after fees.

The route preview shows the quoted output, the route taken, and any relevant costs so you can review before confirming. The figure is an estimate, not a hard guarantee.

Because the market moves, the final amount can differ slightly from the preview within your slippage tolerance. If execution would exceed that tolerance, the swap is rejected and your funds stay put — so you never accept a worse-than-agreed price silently.